How Time Flies
by Powerfulweak
Summary: After closing the cracks, the Doctor runs into a very familiar face in another universe. Spoilers for JE and "The Big Bang"
1. Chapter 1

An eye flickered open, just one at first. The Doctor could hear his hearts beating in his ears. He opened his other eye. As the blur focused, it registered that he was lying face down on… pavement? A blast of air filled his lungs as he inhaled, causing his chest to ache. He squeezed his eyes shut and reopened them, trying to clear the scene.

_Cracks are closing. Right, _the Doctor thought, _Flew Pandorica into exploding Tardis… Wait, is that right? I believe it is… Being erased from existence… But saving Amy and Rory. Good._ Both eyes opened. He was rewinding through his time lime as it disappeared around him. _Where am I now?_ He shifted his arms underneath him, palms flat on the pavement. As he tried to push himself up a shriek of pain shot through his joints, causing him to fall back onto the ground. He moaned softly in pain. _I'm dying, technically; of course there'd be pain._

He craned his head up, glimpsing to see where he might be. There was a brick wall before him, about three meters away. Less than a meter behind him was a second brick wall and… the Tardis! The Doctor managed a grin. _Oh, that is brilliant! I'm with my ship… in what appears to be an alley of some sort._ Out of the corner of his eye, he could see people moving in opposite directions. Once again, he pushed himself off the ground, this time having more success, standing on his knees uncertainly. He looked down at his jacket, now in much worse for wear. He touched his neck. _Bowtie still in tact. Cool_, He thought. He was once again aware of how badly his whole body ached. Every limb felt bruised. _Must figure out where I am._ He gazed out of the alleyway, watching people walk past. Leaning on the Tardis for leverage, he hoisted himself to his feet. He stood up straight and brushed the dirt and stray gravel from his jacket and trousers, further inspecting the damage to his clothes.

He stepped out of the alley, scanning his surroundings. Snippets of conversation filtered into his ears. _English. England English. London English_, he determined, trying to decipher the cacophony. _Am I in London?_ He looked over his shoulder to see the London Eye hovering before him. He smiled at the familiarity until something else came into view. In the distance of the clouds, a massive craft drifted through them. The Doctor turned around and narrowed his eyes in confusion. Another immense thing floated past the first.

_Zeppelins? But the London Eye wasn't erected until the turn of the millennia, almost 60 years after the blitz_, he wondered, _Unless…?_

The Doctor's eyes widened. He turned on his heel in a flash and rushed back to the Tardis. He fiddled with his inside-jacket pocket, searching for the key to the ship. The lock stuck several times as he frantically tried to turn it. He cursed under his breath. The tumblers finally turned. He pushed himself into the Tardis, stopping abruptly in the doorway.

The ship was silent and dark. The unusual stillness sent a crawl up the Doctor's spine. He took a step forward and laid a hand on the railing leading up to the controls. There was no soft vibration beneath his fingers; The only light was spilling in from the open doorway. He approached the controls and flipped a switch. Nothing. He tapped absent-mindedly on the keyboard; there was no response. His pace quickened as he circled the console, trying every switch and button possible. For every action, there was no reaction. As his agitation built, he slammed a hand down on the controls in frustration. He looked up at the central column and swallowed hard. Tears welled in his eyes.

"No," he whispered, the heartbreak visible on his face. "Why did you do this?"

He was in a parallel London and the Tardis was dead. Truly gone. She'd used whatever energy she had left to throw him into a universe where he did not exist in order to save him from disappearing. She had sacrificed herself for her Doctor. He choked down a sob and a tear fled down his cheek. He leaned over the console, gripping the edge until his knuckles went white. He wanted to speak, he wanted to scream, but no words would escape. The sorrow over the loss of his ship seemed to dull the physical pain of his body in comparison. His shoulders shook as a sob rose through him. There, in the pale light of the doorway, he mourned his lost friend.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor sat on bench, examining his ice cream. He took a slow lick and mulled over the flavor. He'd never really had a fondness for ice cream before, but he'd heard many times of its virtues.

Amy had insisted on ice cream after every near-death experience. After they'd left Venice, she'd nearly polished off a quart of Pralines and Cream in one sitting. She said it always made her feel better after a bad day. The Doctor wasn't quite sure of the medicinal properties in his cone of Double Fudge Swirl, but it certainly was making him feel a little bit better. And it certainly had been a very bad day. More precisely, a very bad two days.

Two days. Two days he'd spent so far here in the parallel universe. He didn't like being at time's mercy. It was very uncomfortable, and dull, and boring. It reminded him of sitting and watching Van Gogh paint with Amy-

Amy…

Amy and Rory. It hurt to think about his two friends who he was sure he'd never see again. They were safe. That is what mattered. He may be stuck forever on this backward little planet in an unfamiliar universe, but they were safe.

He'd spent the entire first day tearing apart the inside of the Tardis, searching for some signs of life. Hours passed with him up to his elbows in wiring and fluids. He was hoping to find one small crystal of energy in the bowels of the ship, but there had been nothing. He had remained nearly catatonic beneath the console, half in mourning and half determined to do something. The Doctor did not give up on his companions and no companion would ever be as dear to him as the Tardis was.

The second day he'd managed to pull himself out of his malaise and explore the world. He discovered it was 2028 here. He wasn't sure what had caused the Tardis to shift forward like that. Maybe it was just a fluke. Yet, the Doctor was unsure of this, especially when a small story in the paper caught his eye.

He had been sitting in a small café off of Leicester Square, reading through the Times. He'd scrounged up a few quid for tea and nearly choked on his Lady Grey when he had read an almost-hidden headline at the bottom of the Science Section:

"Nobel Prize Recipient Dr. Jack Harkness Resumes Teaching Position at University."

The Doctor had coughed for a full minute before being able to continue with the news brief. _Jack? Jack Harkness? __**Dr**__. Jack Harkness? Impossible! Unbelievable! _The Doctor thought_, Jack can't be doctor, much less a Nobel Laureate. I'd be shocked if he knew how to program a coffee maker._ He'd read the article slowly. It didn't release much information other than Dr. Jack Harkness, after winning the Nobel Prize for Physics ("I'm so sure", the Doctor muttered sarcastically), would be returning to his position as head of the Physics Department at the University of London.

The Doctor could not believe one word. It all seemed too surreal. He knew Jack and, while Jack could be clever and brave, book-smart was not one of his stronger points. _Physics?_ Unless the Nobel committee was now handing out prizes for theses titled "Making Things Go Boom", he hardly thought Jack's knowledge of Physics warranted a win.  
"It must be another Jack Harkness," he mumbled, taking a tentative sip of his tea as he reread the words for the fifth time. "But really, how many Jack Harknesses can there _be_? I mean, it's entirely possible that this universe has it's own Jack, but really, to be… this different. Unbelievable!" He'd left the café and ran off to find this Dr. Jack Harkness (_What happened to 'Captain'?_ The Doctor thought).

He'd spent hours running through the University of London, first looking for the Physics Department and then trying to find Jack. To his chagrin, he'd discovered that today was Professor Harkness' day off.

"Professor?" The Doctor scrunched his nose and held up the torn out article from the paper. He glared as he reread it. "This says Doctor?"

"Well, yes, sir, He is a Professor. But he prefers being called Doctor." Said the secretary at the Administrative office, a spindly blonde woman in tortoise-shell frames.

"That's quite strange, isn't it," said the Doctor. He replaced the article in his inside jacket pocket.

"Oh, yes sir. In fact it's a great point of contention amongst the staff." The secretary said, tapping away at the keyboard. "But no one says anything because Dr. Harkness is perfectly brilliant." The Doctor nodded and gazed around the room. The fluorescent lights buzzed and flickered. He checked to see if there was anyone else listening in to them. The Doctor leaned over the high counter and smiled at her.

"Um… Is it perhaps possible to get Dr. Harkness' home address?" The Doctor, whispered.

"I'm afraid that is against school policy, sir," she said, eyes still glued to her computer screen. "I can't release the faculty's personal information."

"Yes, I see, but I am a colleague of Dr. Harkness' and I'm only in town for a couple days. I was very much hoping to see him before I left." The Doctor flipped up the wallet containing the psychic paper. "Here are my credentials." The woman looked up. She reached for the wallet and held it close to her face, reading it.

"Professor Ace Perpugilliam," She read. The Doctor coughed, startled at the familiar names. All the talk of professors had made him subconsciously think of Ace, he supposed, but he was confused at to why he'd thought of Peri's name. The woman glanced at the Doctor Skeptically.

"You don't sound like you're from New Zealand," she said, handing the wallet back to the Doctor. The Doctor lifted his brow and blinked in surprise.

"I'm… not," He said slowly, "But I do teach there. And I don't visit England very often. So, I am facing quite a pickle right now, and it would be so lovely of you if you could assist me in this-" The Doctor looked down at the nameplate on her desk. "-Linda." He flashed a boyish grin at her. It worked; she smiled back at him.

"Alright, I'll find you the address," She said. "But you can't tell a soul about this." She looked at him sternly. The Doctor closed his eyes and laid a hand over his left heart.

"I swear I will take it to my grave, my dear Linda," He glanced at her and winked. Linda tapped a few keys and grabbed a notepad on her desk, scribbling down the address quickly.

"Here you go, Professor," She handed him the slip of paper. The Doctor slipped it in his inside jacket pocket. He took her hand lightly.

"Thank you so much. You've been of great help," He kissed her hand. Linda smiled. The Doctor turned quickly and headed out the door.

Now, he sat here, on a park bench, staring at what was apparently Jack Harkness' front door. He methodically licked his ice cream cone as he considered his options. He didn't understand what had drawn him here. It's not as if the ex-time agent could find him a way back to his own universe. He was a university professor, not a Torchwood employee this time. He would have no access to alien technology. Maybe this universe didn't even have a rift. Or a Torchwood.

Even if the Doctor could return to his previous Earth, his existence would immediately be erased. He sighed heavily and bit a chunk of the cone off. He didn't know what he expected to gain by finding Jack. Maybe he was just grasping for the most familiar thing he could in such an unfamiliar place. The Doctor had been lost, stranded, turned upside down and thrown off course on many occasions and in many galaxies. He'd been caught in the middle of many desperate, hopeless situations. Yet only now, here in the middle of London, was he truly afraid of the unknown.

He popped the last bit of the cone into his mouth and dabbed at the corners with a napkin.

"Now or never," he muttered, standing up. He took a deep breath as he admired the neighborhood. The quaint row of Georgian houses sat on a quiet corner of Belgravia. It seemed a little upscale for a professor, the Doctor thought, but if he really was a Nobel Laureate than he supposed it made sense. As he approached the stock brick building, he swallowed hard. He walked up the small stoop and knocked on the door.

The sound Footsteps move closer, followed by the creek of the hinges. The door opened to reveal a girl in her early teens. Long, dark hair framed her angular face. Round cheeks seemed to shape her wide mouth into an involuntary frown.

"Hi?" she said. Sleepy golden eyes stared inquisitively at the Doctor. Once again, the Doctor swallowed hard, trying to reign in his nerves.

"Ah… Yes. I'm looking for Jack Harkness?" he said, apprehensively. The girl turned her head toward the inside of the house.

"Dad!" she shouted. The Doctor flinched, more at the shock of Jack being a father than at the noise.

"Who is it?" an unseen voice from inside yelled down.

"Someone to see you," the girl looked towards the Doctor out the corner of her eye. Her movements and lanky frame reminded the Doctor of a newborn colt trying to gain its footing for the first time. He noticed the motion of the girl's hand. She tapped the pad of each finger against her thumb in a repeated motion, as if there was kinetic energy trapped inside her with no other release. The bounce of footsteps came closer.

"Who is it?" the source of the voice was hidden behind the door.

"Don't know," the girl was still in the view, but she now focused her attention on whoever was behind the door. Jack, the Doctor supposed.

"Than why did you open it?" the familiar voice asked. The girl bit at the inside of her cheek, her fingers continued to rap together. She shrugged and turned round, disappearing into the house. The door opened fully.

In that instant, one of the Doctor's hearts stopped.

Before him stood a man in his early fifties. A few laugh lines and wrinkles creased his still youthful-looking face. Chestnut hair was parted to the side and slicked back with splashes of gray forming at the temples. His body was still trim, but it was no longer the sinewy, wiry mess it had once been. He looked through black-framed glasses at the stranger on his doorstep.

"No," the Doctor whispered in disbelief. He could've been looking in a mirror… at least, up until a few months ago.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

The Doctor just gaped. Standing in front of him was, apparently, Dr. Jack Harkness. Or, as the Time Lord had last known him, The Human Doctor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all your comments. I self-beta'd this as best I could. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Doctor Who related**

The Doctor couldn't move. His mouth hung open, not uttering a sound.

The man known by many names (the Human Doctor, the Metacrisis, the Doctor Donna, and now apparently Dr. Jack Harkness) stood in the doorway of his home. He wore a black t-shirt and denim jeans, one hand casually stuffed into his pocket.

"Can I help you?" the Human Doctor asked. He shifted his head at an angle, giving the odd man with the large hair standing on his doorstep a perplexed look.

The Doctor just stared. Pieces from the last two days began to fall into place; details he hadn't connected before began to meld. _How come I didn't remember the zeppelins?_ He screamed inside his own head. Had he been so distracted as to not remember such a glaring aspect of this universe? He swallowed hard and looked at his clone before his mouth hung open once more. _Well, not so much of a clone any more_, he thought.

The Human doctor descended one of the steps. His movements were the same, that casual yet purposeful stride and shift he had. He removed his glasses and cleaned them with the edge of his shirt. The Doctor noticed the way he squinted as he took them off. _He actually needs glasses now. Interesting._

"I'm sorry sir, is something the matter?" Dr. Jack Harkness said, as he replaced the glasses on his face. The Doctor was stirred out of his catatonia.

"Ah… yes, I mean… no," he took a deep breath. "I believe… I have the wrong address. I am… I am so sorry to bother you." The Doctor took a step backwards off the step. The young girl from before peaked her head out of the doorway, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"But you said you were looking for Jack Harkness," she charged. "That's him." She pointed to the Metacrisis. The Doctor's eyes caught that of the girl's, pleading with her to just let him go. He refocused his on the other man.

"I… I do believe I have the wrong name. Really, I am sorry to bother you. I must be going." The Doctor continued to back pedal down the steps. As he attempted to replace the newspaper clipping into his jacket pocket, his heel slipped off the final step. The Doctor tumbled backwards. He removed his hand quickly from inside his jacket, attempting to grab the railing. His hand wrapped around the banister, the momentum causing the contents of his jacket pocket to come tumbling out. He heard a clatter on the ground. His breath caught as his eyes fell to the sonic screwdriver laying a few feet before him.

"What?" a soft voice behind him said. He looked up to see the human Doctor staring at the sonic on the pavement. The Doctor just looked at him, his teeth slightly clenched, eyes cool. The Human Doctor turned his head toward the young girl still peaking out of the doorway.

"Nellie, I need to ask this man something. Go back inside, please." He said. The girl gave him a wide-eyed expression, pushing her tongue into her cheek. "Just go, Nell." He insisted calmly. She ducked back inside, closing the door behind her. The Human Doctor descended the steps slowly, never taking his eyes off of the Doctor.

He reached the bottom and crouched down, picking up the sonic. Holding it between to fingers, he examined it carefully, turning it in all directions. He tilted his head and pushed a button on the side. Instantly, it emitted a familiar buzz. The human Doctor flinched as four prongs popped up off of the sides of the device. He gave the doctor a sideways glance and he lifted a brow curiously. He closed the sonic and handed it to the Doctor. The human doctor circled around him slowly, his eyes scrutinizing his form and clothing. As he faced him, the human grasped a bit of fringe in two fingers, gingerly pulling it to its full length. He made a small noise, somewhere between a laugh and a snort as he let the hair fall from his fingers. He stared hard at the Doctor, his brow furrowed in thought. He placed his index finger at the edge of the Doctor's hairline, right above his nose. He drew the finger straight down the Doctor's face, stopping briefly at the tip of his nose.

"I've had worse," he mumbled. He lightly gripped the Doctor's chin in his hand, examining it closely. "Blimey." The Doctor exhaled as the human stepped away from him.

"You're him, aren't you?" the Metacrisis asked, almost rhetorically. The Doctor replaced his sonic in his jacket pocket.

"You already know the answer," he said. The human Doctor nodded. He lifted his glasses over his brow and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He exhaled loudly in acquiescence as he looked at the Doctor again.

"I just need to ask you one question," he said, stepping toward the Doctor once more. "What… in the _hell_ is that?" His eyes fell on the Doctor's neck as he pointed to his tie. The Doctor heaved a frustrated sigh and gritted his teeth, his jaw flexing slightly.

"It. Is. A. Bowtie. They are cool. Get over it!" He stated in irritation. The human Doctor stepped back, surprised. He opened his mouth as if to speak for a second, but then closed it. A look of resignation crossed his features. He sighed.

"Ah… you're right. They are cool," he confirmed while a small grin. He turned away and looked toward the park across the road. "I never get to wear them. Rose hates them-"

"_Rose_!" the Doctor sputtered. His hearts immediately began beating faster. His eyes went wide at the mention of the name. "Rose is here? Now?" The human hopped back at his reaction and simply looked at him.

"Uh… she's out shopping right now," the human shifted gears quickly. "The better question is what are you doing here?" His brow once again creased.

"Ah, yes, well…. It's a very long story. Here, let me show you…" the Doctor spun the human Doctor to face him and reared his head backward. The human put both hands out in front of him quickly.

"No! No! Absolutely not!" the human Doctor took a few steps back in order to prevent the Doctor from head-butting him. "You are not doing _that_!" The Doctor straightened back up.

"Why don't we go inside, I'll fix a cup of tea and you can tell me everything?" The human Doctor said. The Doctor curled-up his nose, as if the thought of actually telling a long drawn out story was a foreign concept to him. He followed the human up the stairs and inside the house.

The Doctor stood in the hallway, examining his surroundings. It was fitting that the human Doctor's home was bigger on the inside. The décor was minimal but warm. Polished hardwood floors stretched out before him. The walls were painted a dove grey color with bright white trim. A stairway to the second floor stood to his left; on the walls leading up hung an assortment of family photos. The Doctor recognized Pete and Jackie in a couple from a distance. There appeared to be a school photo of a ginger boy of may be nine or ten. The whole house smelled of fresh cut flowers and citrus. The Doctor smiled, detecting a slight hint of Rose's perfume in the air.

"Nellie," the human Doctor called out as he shut the door. "Are you in the kitchen?"

"Yeah," a voice called out from somewhere in the house.

"Would you mind putting the kettle on?" He asked. He moved a little past the Doctor and jerked his head to the side for him to follow. As they walked through the house, the Doctor spotted more family photos. Then ginger boy from the stairway picture appeared in a couple more, looking both younger and older in some. There were a few photos of the Human Doctor holding small children in his arms, looking on proudly. The Doctor stopped in front of one photo and stared at it intently. In it, the human Doctor was wearing a tuxedo and being presented a bright red box by an older gentleman, also in a tuxedo but one adorned with various medals. Behind the two men stood numerous well-dressed men and women, all wearing medallions; some wearing crowns. The human Doctor was nodding down his head and smiling humbly, as if saying thank you. The Doctor moved his face closer to the photo, analyzing it.

"You look younger in this here. I thought you just recently won the Nobel Prize?" The Doctor said. The human Doctor turned around and looked at the man eyeing the photo.

"Yeah… that was taken the first time, maybe 10 years ago." He said, his hands stuffed nonchalantly into the pockets of his jeans. The Doctor looked at the man, confused.

"First time?" the Doctor asked, drawing his brow up. The human held up three fingers.

"I'm on my third." He said. The Doctor's eyes widened and he made a small, impressed noise as the human doctor once again gestured for him to follow. As the two walked into the kitchen, the Doctor could hear an electric kettle beginning to rumble. The young girl from the front door, Nellie, sat on top of a stool at the island in the middle of the room reading a school textbook. She looked up as they entered.

"Your daughter?" the Doctor asked the Metacrisis quietly. The other man nodded, a small, proud smile on his face. The Doctor once again looked at the girl. She smiled at him shyly, her tongue poking through her teeth in a familiar way. For the first time, the Doctor really saw the resemblance that had first caught his eye in the doorway. Same eyes, same mouth, same cheeks, same mannerisms… they were all there.

"Nell," the human said, addressing the girl. "Is it alright if you study in another room? I have something to discuss with my friend here."

"Are you going to help me with this later?" She asked, large eyes inquiring. The human Doctor nodded.

"_Is est teres. Vos teneo is perficio." _He said in perfect Latin.

"_Nolo scio is perficio. Volo ut somnium huic lingua_." She shot back, closing her book and slipping off the stool.

"_Quod vos mos. Tamen commodo, Ego postulo unus hora ut sermo ut meus amicus pro vestri matris supervenio domus_." He responded, giving the girl a sideways grin.

Nellie nodded and walked out the doorway.

"She really looks like Rose, doesn't she?" the Doctor wondered aloud. The Human just gave another sideways grin as he poured hot water over two cups of tea.

"More than looks like." He said slyly. "They act the exactly the same."

"Then I bet she has you wrapped around her finger." The Doctor chided.

"You have no idea." The human widened his eyes and inhaled roughly through his teeth. He laughed lightly. He handed a cup to the Doctor.

"How old is she?" the Doctor asked.

"Nearly fifteen." He answered. The Doctor bobbed his teabag in the cup as he considered this.

"How long has it been?"

"A bit over sixteen years."

"That can't be right. The paper today said 2028. I dropped you off in 2009." The Doctor said, his forehead rutted together.

"Actually, it was 2012 when you left us. We're three years ahead in this universe." The human said as he stirred a few spoonfuls of sugar into his tea. He lifted his eyes to the Doctor and stared at him clearly. "So… tell us, then. Why are you here?" The Doctor stared into the warm, dark liquid in front of him. He nodded slowly, trying to find a place to start

"Where do you want me to begin?" He gave the human Doctor an earnest look.

"The beach. The second time." He said.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry about the delay. I just got a full-time job. This chapter is a little long. I promise to get the next one out sooner. I self-beta'd, so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing Doctor Who related.**

The Doctor took a deep breath and began to talk. He told of the Master returning and his madness, the return of Gallifrey and Rassillon, and how he was once again responsible for their destruction. He talked about regenerating and then crashing into Amelia Pond's garden, of fish fingers and custard, of cracks in the skin of the universe and Prisoner Zero.

The Doctor then told of his adventures with Amy. He became very animated as he related the stories of their exploits: Starship UK, Weeping Angels, Van Gogh. He grew very somber as he began to describe the cracks that seemed to follow him across the universe, how they had swallowed people out of existence, including Amy's Fiancé Rory. His tone grew cold when he mentioned the Pandorica and the alliance his enemies had made to trap him within it, about the universe being swallowed up around them, about flying the Pandorica into an exploding Tardis. The human Doctor, Dr. Jack, just listened as his friend spoke, nodding from time to time, sipping his tea.

After an hour and a half, he had finished. He ran a hand through his hair, physically drained from relating the tale. Dr. Jack just stared at him, a vague, sympathetic look in his gaze.

"So the Tardis is really gone?" Dr. Jack finally said after several minutes. The Doctor nodded sadly. "You couldn't find any-"

"No," the Doctor answered firmly. "I tore through the whole ship. No signs of life. She-" he bit at his bottom lip and gazed down into his now cold tea. "She gave everything she had."

"Why do you think she sent you here?" Dr. Jack asked as he rose from the stool. He moved toward the counter, once again turning on the kettle. The Doctor puffed out his cheeks a bit and shook his head.

"Don't know," The Doctor said. "I suspect if you have a thousand different directions in which you can go, you'd be most likely to pick the one you were most familiar with." Dr. Jack just nodded and returned to his stool.

"Why did you come looking for me?" Dr. Jack said. For the first time in almost an hour, the Doctor met his gaze, defensive at his tone.

"I didn't come looking for you," he countered. "I was looking for Jack Harkness. Ex-time agent Jack Harkness."

"But why did you come if you knew he wasn't working for Torchwood," he said, tapping a finger on the newspaper clipping on the counter. "It says right here Jack Harkness: a university professor, not a Torchwood employee." The Doctor just shrugged.

"I didn't know what this universe's Jack Harkness was like." The Doctor was getting more and more defensive to Dr. Jack's questions. "Maybe there was still an ex-time agent in this universe."

"But even so, Time Agents never did any biuniversal travel. The likelihood of running into a –"

"I didn't really know what the possibilities were."

"But your logic makes no sense!" Dr. Jack drew a hand over his face in frustration. "Unless something has changed severely, the Time Agency never established any cross-dimensional travel; neither were they able to. The Timelords barely had an understanding of it beyond basic side-by-side universes. In the _very_ unlikely chance that the man you were searching for was even similar to the Jack Harkness from your universe and in the _even more_ unlikely chance that he was even familiar with the time agency, what did you hope-"

"I had no hope!" The Doctor cut him off loudly. His anger was clearly visible. He took a deep breath and spoke the next words slowly. "I am alone and forgotten in a foreign dimension. I am lost with a dead ship. I found something vaguely familiar, and ran towards that." He looked up at Dr. Jack, his eyes just about glistening with anger and sadness.

"Had a stranger answered the door, I can't say what my next steps would've been." The Doctor continued. He stared straight ahead, eyes unblinking. "I'm alone here. I've no way back and nothing to go back to.

"I've been frightened of things in the past, terrible things. Monsters and demons and creatures born without mercy… I've felt terror facing things like that before. But… but never the level of fear I feel in this place." Dr. Jack stared at the Doctor's profile; his face was full of sympathy and concern.

"So now you know what that's like." Dr. Jack mumbled to himself quietly.

"What?" the Doctors said, broken from his trance.

"uh, Nothing." Dr. Jack said. He quickly tried to lighten the mood by flashing a cheeky smirk at the Doctor. "So… I see you're still not ginger?" The Doctor laughed lightly and gazed at the fringe falling over his eyes.

"No, Sadly."

"Are you rude this time?" Dr. Jack asked taking a sip of his tea. The Doctor bobbed his head side to side a he considered this.

"aahhh… yeah, still a bit rude. Not as rude, but still rude." He chuckled a bit as he looked up at Dr. Jack. A door suddenly closed loudly in the hallway. Both Doctors heads shot up at the surprise of it.

" 'm Home," a young boys voice called from the hall. Quick, bouncy footsteps preceded the entrance of a young man of maybe 12 or 13 years to the doorway of the kitchen. He was lean and wiry, if still a bit short for his age. His thick blonde hair seemed to go in every direction. He had the same eyes and nose as his sister, but his face was long and narrow instead of round. As he walked into the kitchen he stopped when he saw the two men sitting around the island in the center.

"What's going on?" he looked toward his father. He gestured his head toward the Doctor. "Who's he?" Dr. Jack looked down his glasses at the boy and gave him a stern stare.

"Be polite, Simon. This is friend of mine. He's visiting for a bit. Just came over for a quick chat." Simon looked at the Doctor with the same hesitant glance that his sister had given him earlier. He dropped his bag on the floor walked toward the opposite wall of the kitchen

"I thought you had football practice today?" Dr. Jack asked.

"No. Tomorrow" Simon grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and bit into it.

"You play football?" The Doctor asked. "What position are you?" Simon glanced at the Doctor once more and swallowed the bite he had in his mouth.

"Mostly forward." Simon replied. "You play?"

"Yeah." The Doctor replied. Dr. Jack gave him a curious sideways glance.

"You do?" he asked, incredulous. The Doctor smiled at him and nodded.

"I do. I have. Actually, quite good in fact." He replied. Dr. Jack chuckled and shook is head.

"I can't play. I'm rubbish." He admitted.

"He really is." Simon agreed, with a cheeky grin. "_I _could beat him by the time I was 8."

"Hey," Dr. Jack smirked as he attempted to stop his son's teasing. "You have any homework?" The boy gazed at the ceiling and considered.

"Biology and two reading assignment." He took another bite out of his apple.

"Well, better get started before mum gets home. Nellie's studying in the other room" Dr. Jack said. Simon picked up his bag and took it into the next room. The Doctor turned toward Dr. Jack.

"How many children do you have?" he asked. Dr. Jack raised his brow and glanced at the Doctor.

"Four."

"Four! Blimey." The Doctor gasped. "Do… uh… any of them… um…" He tapped a finger on both sides of his chest.

"No, no. Just one each." Dr. Jack stood next to counter poured hot water over a tea bag. He gestured to the Doctor's cup, offering him another, but the he just shook his head. The Doctor gave him a contemplative look.

"I must know: Why 'Jack Harkness'?" The Doctor inquired.

"Pardon?"

"Why did you choose 'Jack Harkness' as a name?"

"Welllll, I figured I needed a proper name." Dr. Jack replied. The Doctor crinkled his nose.

"Whatever happened to 'John Smith'?" He asked, with some indignation. "I always use that name." Dr. Jack just shrugged his shoulders.

"'John Smith' is boring."

"I happen to like 'John Smith.'"

"But it's not a name you want to keep permanently," Dr. Jack retorted. "And anyway, 'John Smith' isn't a proper name. No one believes you when you say you're name is 'John Smith'. They think it's a cover for something else. Either you're hiding something, or on the run, or involved with something illegal. In your case, it's all three of those, isn't it?" The Doctor chuckled.

"I wanted a name that no one would question," Dr. Jack continued. "One that, when I told people they'd think 'Oh that's his name', not 'Oh that's his alias.'" He set the piping hot cup down on the island.

"So why did you pick Jack Harkness"

"Well, when I was considering names, my first choice was Giacomo… By the way," Dr. Jack interrupted himself. "Did you ever get Casanova's chicken back to him?" The Doctor released a heavy sigh and ran his hand through his hair.

"No, I didn't. And I really should've; I was _just in _Venice, too." He shook his head.

"Well, Giacomo, That was my first choice, but Rose thought it sounded a little _antiquated_, since I'm not Italian and this isn't the 18th century. So, she recommended something with a little more… zip, I guess, and shortened it to Jack." He let his teeth clack over the last word and grinned. He held up his thumb and forefinger about three inches apart.

"And Harkness just naturally followed?" The Doctor replied with some sarcasm. Dr. Jack ran a hand over his slicked-back hair.

"Welllll, sort of. I didn't care to use Smith again. Rose didn't want me to take Tyler. She thought it'd be weird. And yeah, Harkness seemed to sound right. The names fit well together," He explained, rattling off the words as he stared into space. He once again turned his focus on the Doctor. "Plus, it's… it's, um, kind of a tribute."

"A tribute? To Captain Jack Harkness?" The Doctor's face was once again filled with disbelief. "A tribute to what? Most species snogged in a single galaxy?" Dr. Jack laughed and shook his head.

"No, no… if, uh, if it hadn't been for Jack," he grinned and held up his right hand, wiggling his fingers. "I wouldn't exist."

"Ah! The hand!" The Doctor took hold of his wrist and began to examine it. "How is the old thing?"

"Oh, it's good. Bit stiff at times. They think I have a spot of carpal tunnel" Dr. Jack rolled his wrist loosely. The Doctor let go of the hand and stared him pensively.

"So you and Rose… You're still together." The Doctor observed. Dr. Jack looked up at him.

"You sound surprised." He retorted.

"Oh, well. 16 years is quite a bit of time."

"Yes, but that's not why you sound surprised." Dr. Jack's voice was cut with a hint of derision. "I think you're surprised that we're together at all. That we're married, that we have children." The Doctor's mouth opened and closed a bit, as if searching for the proper word.

"Well… um…I didn't mean to cause any offense, but… I mean honestly, I know how _I_ am: no domesticity, no settling, always moving, going forward…"

"Adrenaline junkie." Dr. Jack cut in sarcastically.

"… No, no, no. You understand what I mean. I'm just not a…a, uh… home-y type," He fished for the right words. "And I know how Rose is-"

"How _is _Rose?" Dr. Jack cut him off quickly, the quiet anger building in his voice. The Doctor hesitated for a moment, sensing the tension that had just filled the room. He stared at the man in front of him. An anxious look on his face as he searched for an answer to Dr. Jack question.

"Like me," the Doctor finally sputtered out. Dr. Jack eyes narrowed, but the emotion on his face was still unclear.

"As I recall, Doctor," He began slowly. "You abandoned the two of us here with the intention of us spending our lives together."

"I didn't abandon you-" The Doctor interjected. Dr. Jack held up his hand to cut him off.

"What I'm gathering now is that you believed it would never work," Dr. Jack's brow knit together as his resentment boiled to the surface. "Did you leave here believing that we were set up for failure? A fixed occurrence?" He looked the Doctor straight in the eye, demanding an answer he already knew. The Doctor once again gaped as he sought the right word. Dr. Jack eyes softened as he let out a small sigh.

"There is something that needs to be said," He began. His next words came out in lilting, musical Galifreyan. "And I don't want my children to ever hear this.

"When you abandoned Rose and I here, and you _did _abandon us," He continued in his native tongue. "I was terrified. I was the first of my kind. There had never been a human-Timelord Metacrisis before. I didn't know what was going to happen to me…. Oh, I **knew** what was going to happen to Donna and what you were going to have to do," the Doctor looked away with regret, remembering his friend. "I didn't know what was going to happen to me, though. I didn't know if I was capable of being human, if I was going to go mad, if my mind was going to burn, if I… I would hurt Rose. Or if she would hurt me."

"Rose would never…" The Doctor tried to interject.

"Let me talk," Dr. Jack demanded softly. "I was scared. And I didn't know what was going to happen next. And all you could do was call me a monster, a murderer… and leave." He looked into the Doctors eyes and swallowed hard. The Doctor's own face was filled with anxiety and a hint of remorse.

"When you left, I finally understood how Sarah and Rose and Susan and everyone else you had ever left behind had felt. The feeling of desolation that is left in your wake; it's heartbreaking. I'd never considered the pain I'd caused everyone when I ran away, but to feel it _first hand_…" Dr. Jack shook his head and leaned forward, staring down at the tabletop. "Gallifrey could've burned a thousand times over, and I wouldn't have felt it as deeply as your absence." The Doctor was at a loss for words or actions. The two men sat there for a few minute, the only noise coming from the children in the other room.

"I didn't mean to-" The Doctor broke the silence.

"You never do." Dr. Jack said quietly. "Somehow that makes it worse. There is no malicious intent." Dr. Jack to a sip of his tea. "You feel what your doing is for the best, but those you hurt, those who are closest to you, never get to see that.

"Rose… my God, she cried for three days, wouldn't leave her room. She'd spent years coming back to you and in the end you dump her back here with a 'thanks for playing. Enjoy the home version.' She was in disbelief and I couldn't do anything to fix it. I couldn't think of anything to say," as Dr. Jack spoke, he stared unblinking into the Doctor's eyes. "I didn't know if she'd even take me. I was so afraid of hurting her. Was it the time traveler or me she wanted? Could she stay in one place and be happy with me? I waited in absolute dread that the need to run, that wanderlust that had plagued me my entire life would return and I'd drop away from her, that I'd abandon her once more." He took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses. The Doctor sat there motionless, carefully considering all he had been told.

"What happened?" He asked with the quiet sincerity of a child. Dr. Jack sat up, his countenance softened.

"Oh Doctor, you know better than anyone: Time heels all wounds. No heart can stay broken forever," he took another sip of his tea and paused as happier memories filled his head. "We took it very slow. I had my own flat, we dated. We treated it as if the previous four years had been a dream. We… we both had to swallow a lot of pride and be very honest with each other… We built a relationship." He gave the Doctor a half-smile.

"Are you happy?" the Doctor inquired honestly. Dr. Jack nodded.

"Yes," he said without hesitation, grinning. "I mean, it's not always sunshine and butterflies and running through meadows. It's a marriage. It's work, but it's good work, and it's… so very worth it."

"And that need to run?"

"Never came," He gave a barely noticeable shake of his head. "And I worried about that for some time, long after Nellie was born, but… it never happened." Dr. Jack absentmindedly touched the right side of his chest. "It's like a phantom pain. I know it used to be there, and I know what is felt like… sometimes it even feels real. But it has no hold over me, no real effect." For the first time in several minutes, the Doctor gave Dr. Jack a half-hearted grin.

"Doctor, there is something you must realize: You may know who you are, you may have known who Rose _was_, but you really don't know who _I am_." Dr. Jack's face showed no anger or resentment, just a need to be understood. "I am no longer just a clone. I'm not even a clone now, look at you! I'm a completely new species. I have a drive deep within me, but it drives me to those I love. Not away from them." He lifted his brow. The Doctor nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor finally said after a minute. "About before, I should've…You're right. I know how it feels." Dr. Jack smiled and shook his head.

"Thank you," He ran a hand over his hair and scratched lightly on the back of his scalp. "Y'know, I think we need something a bit stronger than tea. How about a beer?"


End file.
